Michael Paul Brown, Montana Army vet who shot 4 dead at the Owl Bar in Anaconda arrested after week long manhunt. Wanted gunman suffered from range of mental health issues from serving in the U.S Army and is believed to have ‘snapped.’
Montana police have arrested an army veteran who’d been on the run for a week for allegedly shooting four people dead at a local Anaconda bar last Friday.
Michael Paul Brown, 45, was found alive – and was taken into custody on Friday.
The 45-year-old is accused of killing four people at The Owl Bar in Anaconda on August 1, 2025.
At the time of the shooting, just on 10.30 a.m, Brown is alleged to have walked into the Anaconda bar and began shooting, killing a bartender and three patrons, according to the Montana Department of Justice.
He then fled the scene in a pickup truck to the west of town and into the surrounding mountains, wearing only a pair of black shorts or underwear.
The week-long search involved dozens of law enforcement agencies and hundreds of people, aerial resources, tracking dogs, and more, KRTV reported.
The search encompassed a large area, and was concentrated in the mountains near Stumptown Road just west of Anaconda.
Law enforcement hasn’t released a motive in the shooting, and it’s unclear if Brown had any connections to the three patrons and bartender who were killed.
The victims were identified days after the attack as Anaconda residents Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59, Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 64, David Allen Leach, 70, and Tony Wayne Palm, 74, according to the Montana Department of Justice.
Kelley was a bartender at the business, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen confirmed in a press release.
David Gwerder, the Owl Bar’s owner, told the Associated Press that he knew Brown. Authorities confirmed the suspect lived next door to the bar.
‘He knew everybody that was in that bar. I guarantee you that,’ Gwerder said.
‘He didn’t have any running dispute with any of them. I just think he snapped.’
Gwerder wasn’t at the bar during the shooting and said he believed the four victims were the only ones inside the establishment.
Brown served in the Army as an armor crewman from 2001 to 2005. He was deployed to Iraq from 2004 to March 2005, Army spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Ruth Castro said.
Brown then served in the Montana National Guard from 2006 to March 2009 and left the military as a sergeant, according to Castro.
Brown’s niece, Clare Boyle, said last week that she and her family are heartbroken over the situation and the four lives that were lost.
‘My heart breaks for this town. There is no amount of apology or words that could ever describe how sorry I am and how I feel for these families, my own included,’ she told KRTV.
She added that her uncle suffered from significant mental health challenges, including schizophrenia and PTSD from time serving in the U.S Army.
